Kept in the Dark
by LuffyIsTheCaptainNow
Summary: Zoro meets Luffy on the streets, and the smaller boy seems interested in becoming Zoro's best friend. But when Zoro finds out Luffy's blind, could that affect their friendship in any way? Or will it make it grow stronger? (ZoLu if you want it to be, if reviews say that you want it ZoLu. If not, oh, well. I'll make it ZoLu)
1. Chapter 1

Zoro watched the boy with mild fascination, leaning against the brick building. The boy easily dodged the people in the crowd, not even grazing them. He almost looked like a liquid, slipping through impossible spaces, and just as quick. The black-haired boy very nearly bumped into someone's stroller, but he sidestepped it at the last second and continued making his way through the crowd. Zoro realized the boy was heading straight to him, as if on purpose.

Zoro chased that thought away. Why would some kid just randomly walk up to him in the streets? Especially him, who looked like a terrorist. But the boy kept heading to him, expertly avoiding a few bikers, a smile on his face. But Zoro couldn't see his eyes, as the kid had a hat covering the upper half of his face. Zoro snorted slightly when someone tried to purposely trip the raven, but the boy just stepped over their foot as if it wasn't there in the first place.

Looking at the ground, losing interest in the boy, Zoro started to wonder where he was going to stay tonight. He couldn't seem to find his way back to his hotel room (he was NOT lost, thank you very much!), no matter what he tried. The directions he got from some people were totally useless. He absently touched the three swords against the wall beside him, as if they could tell him how to get back home. But all that they did was steal the warmth from his hand.

"Hello!" came a cheerful voice from right in front of him. He jumped slightly, then looked up. Yep, it was that boy. He really had been heading his way.

"What do you want, brat?" Zoro growled, trying to sound intimidating. But the boy just laughed off his threatening voice.

"You seemed lost. Do you even have anywhere to stay?" he asked curiously, tilting his head but not quite showing his face.

"What's it to you?" Zoro snarled. "You're just a stranger I don't even know." The boy suddenly stuck out a hand. It was pretty small compared to Zoro's, but that was because the kid was pretty short. I mean _really_ short.

"Hi, I'm a stranger you don't even know! And you are?" he said jokingly. Zoro could feel the corners of his mouth struggling to rise, but he kept a straight face as he shook the boy's hand. It was almost as cold as ice. Zoro raised a brow slightly, but the stranger didn't seem to notice.

"Hey, stranger. I'm the pizza man. Have we met before?" he said, playing along.

"No, I don't think we have, my good man!" the hat-wearing boy said in an awful fake accent, leaning against a street light Zoro hadn't noticed before.

"Well, that's a relief. For a second, I thought you were one of those guys that think I owe them the world," Zoro grunted, a grin sonehow crawling across his face. A comfortable silence fell, with the boy pretending to be smoking a pipe.

"Beautiful day, no?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Yeah, I guess," Zoro answered, looking up at the sky. It really _was_ a nice day outside.

"Too bad I can't see it." Zoro's gaze snapped to the boy, who was still smiling and doing his horrible accent, all the while pretending he was holding the pipe in his hand.

"Huh?"

"Oh, sorry. I forgot to tell you. I can hear you, but I can't see you. I'm blind," the boy said, lifting the brim of his hat to reveal milky, light blue pupils. They were unfocused, glassy, and seemed to look around without really seeing anything. But the boy's smile was as wide as ever.

"By the way, what's the color of your hair?" he asked nonchalantly, covering his eyes again, as if he hadn't just said he was blind. That he didn't just go through a completely crowded street so easily when he couldn't even see the road ahead of him.

"Er... green..." Zoro answered absently, not knowing that he answered.

"How about your eyes?"

"They're just black..."

"How about... Do you have anything that I could use to find you again, if I need to?" It was a curious question, almost like a joke, but Zoro could feel the meaning behind it.

"What, is the sound of my wonderful voice not enough? Fine, I guess you could tell it's me because I usually have three swords with me," Zoro said, watching the boy's face light up.

"Three swords? Really?" he asked eagerly, getting off of the light pole to lean beside Zoro. Reaching out a hand, slowly, tentatively, he lightly touched one of the swords resting against the bricks beside him. He slowly ran his hand over it, his fingers barely skimming it's surface. Then he reached for the next one, doing the same thing.

"What are you doing?" Zoro asked, watching him feel the third one.

"Remembering how they feel so I know it's you," the boy answered. "Is your name Zoro?"

"Wha-how did you know?" Zoro spluttered, no longer against the wall.

"It's engraved on this one," the blind boy explained, lightly touching the white one in the middle. He seemed to trace something with a finger. "Right here." Zoro looked where the raven's finger was, and saw exactly what the boy had said. He grunted slightly.

"You must be pretty sensitive if you could feel that. I didn't even carve it that deep," Zoro commented, relaxing once again.

"My name's Luffy. Nice to meet you, Zoro," the boy said, smiling brighter than the sun.

"Nice to meet you, too, Luffy," Zoro greeted, not even trying to stop his smile.


	2. Chapter 2

"So, you got lost? And you lost the key to your room?" Luffy asked, walking beside the green-haired man. The whole street parted like the Red Sea once they saw Zoro and his swords.

"No, I didn't! I just forgot how to get back! And the key just disappeared!" Zoro said indignantly. Luffy chuckled, oblivious to the stares directed at the two teenagers. Who _wouldn't_ stare at someone, that could possibly be a terrorist, acting like best friends with a boy that's almost a head shorter than him? Maybe even years younger?

"Yeah, I'm sure that's what happened. Hey, do you have any family?"

"No, it's just me."

"How about friends? You have to at least have one friend," Luffy pressed.

"Nope. Nobody wants to be friends with a green-haired guy and his swords," Zoro sighed.

"Then how about we be friends?" Luffy sugested, a smile on his lightly-tanned face. A scar on his cheek, that Zoro hadn't noticed, was almost hidden under the smile.

"Aren't we already?" Zoro said flatly. Luffy started laughing again, even though Zoro wasn't trying to be funny.

"You're funny. Well, I guess we're here!" Luffy turned his head up, as if looking at the hotel in front of him. Zoro looked up as well, confused, but then he saw the hotel he had rented a room in.

"How did you know?" Zoro asked, in awe. But Luffy just gave a mysterius grin, pressing something into Zoro's palm before walkig away.

"See you tomorrow, Zoro!" he called over his shoulder, hands on his head and a small spring in his step. Zoro watched him for a while, until Luffy was halfway down the block, then looked at the small object in his hand. It was the key to the room he had rented, shining golden in the dying sun. He glanced again at the boy walking casually down the street.

Just who was Luffy, really? Some kind of magician? Mind reader? He'd never know.

"Hey, Luffy-chaan~!" came a sickly sweet voice. Luffy visibly stiffened, but didn't stop walking.

"Aw, don't be like that, Luffy-chan! I just came to see you!" said an extremely ugly man, smirking devilishly. Luffy pretended not to hear, but quickened his pace. Zoro watched this with narrowed eyes. Whoever was trying to get Luffy's attention obviously wasn't a good guy.

"Luffy-chaan~!" the man called again, starting to follow. Zoro moved so fast, the man didn't notice there was a sword on his throat until he felt it. Yelping in fear, he backpedaled away as fast as his fat legs would let him.

"Leave him alone. Or next time it'll be worse than a little cut," Zoro growled, sliding the Wado Ichimonji back into it's snow-white sheath. He turned to see Luffy, head tilted slightly, watching him with unseeing eyes.

"You didn't have to do that," Luffy said, looking somewhere over Zoro's shoulder as Zoro came closer.

"Yeah, I did. To make a point," Zoro grouched, crossing his arms. Luffy raised a brow.

"Weren't you at your house?" he asked. Zoro shrugged.

"You didn't go very far. Only a block away," he mumbled, turning away. He started walking back.

"It's that way," Luffy said, pointing to his right.

"I knew that."

Luffy laughed softly, listening to Zoro's footsteps fade away.

After a while, he started drifting practically all over the large city.

"Wonder where I'll stay tonight... maybe Sanji's place? Nah, he's still mad at me. Usopp? Oh, wait. He left to visit his grandparents. Maybe Chopper?" Luffy continued listing off his friends, but each had somewhere to be and couldn't have him over for the night. He sighed in disappointment, then remembered the man he had met earlier.

"Was it Zoro...? Yeah, Zoro. Maybe I can stay there..." He paused in his walking, feeling the sun's dying warmth on his back. "His house is.. this way!" He turned left, walking down a narrow alley that was a total dump. He failed to notice the rat-like man hiding beside the dark green dumpster, a sharp-toothed grin on his narrow face. Stepping out from behind the dumpster, the man made sure to make just a little bit of noise. Luffy went rigid, his usually happy facade dropped into a neutral, almost angry-looking glare.

"Hey, you! What's a brat like you doing in _my_ alley?"

Zoro sat on the couch and stared listlessly at the small TV. He couldn't stop wondering about why he never invited the kid to stay the night. It was almost night now, and he probably couldn't make it home before dark.

"Crap, what did I do?" he muttered to himself, banging his head on the coffee table. Wincing, he rubbed the now-sore spot he had given himself.

"Well, I couldn't get any stupider," he grouched, slouching into the armrest. He watched the news in disinterest, until he spotted a familiar face that made him watch the screen intently.

There, plastered on the screen like a giant poster, was Luffy's giant, infectuous smile and his blue, milky eyes, shining like there were mini stars in his eyes.

* * *

 ** _Bleehhhh..._**

 ** _I'm sorry for not updating, blah blah blah..._**

 ** _But if you want to blame something, blame my sister._**

 ** _She got me sick with bronchitis, so I've been sick as a dog for the past two weeks._**

 ** _Anyway, I finally updated! I'm not dead~! So, I hope you liked the new chapter!_**

 ** _Until next time, my beautiful readers~!_**

 ** _-Luffy_**


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